Matt of All Trades blog, like the title suggests, is by a Vermont author and offers offbeat musings on pop culture, media, journalism, humor, weirdness, stupid people, smart people, my life as a journalist, landscaper, photographer, married gay man, dog lover and weather geek and more. It's run by me, Matt Sutkoski, a native Vermonter living in St. Albans, Vt.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

This Video Shows Why Computer-Written News Copy Is Still Horribly Bad

I encountered a news video of a fatal house fire in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts recently.

An elderly man recently died in this Massachusetts housefire, and an insulting computer generated "news" videojust made the situation even worse.

The insulting, off the rails report of the fire showed that automation does not work when it comes to reporting on the news.

An outfit called World Today posted the video of the house fire, which was probably lifted from legitimate television news stations who were covering the fire.

The intro features some really bad dance club music, as if a tragic fire was an occasion to party.

The World Today video had an automated, computer generated voice that described the death in the house fire this way: "Police affirmed small time who lived in the house kicked the bucket thus of the fire."

Huh?

We also learned, "A working fire task was struck when firefighters touched bases as the house was immersed in blazes."

When the fire got too big for firefighters to work inside the house, the World Today video reported, "Firefighters were requested out of the building not long after arriving and are just battling the fire all things considered."

What do you mean "all things considered?" I don't even want to guess.

In reality, the fire was tragic. An 86-year old man's lawn mower caught fire, then caught his clothes on fire, and burned down his house. The elderly man died, and the house was destroyed, legitimate news station CBS Boston reported.

Here's the horrible, cringe-inducing video, but you gotta see and hear it to believe it: